Wrap-Up 2016

"All hail the underdog!" The CFP Championship game did not disappoint (unless you had big money on big, bad, Bama). The CFP has done well at matching up the best (probably) two teams and this year was no exception.

It was just a matter of time before Saban's continued success would catch him off guard. Make no mistake - he's the best in the business. But I think that the 2016 Bama team may have gotten lulled to sleep over the course of the season and went in a little too cocky (think 'Rocky III"). They had not faced a Clemson-esque team as evidenced by their inability to maintain their lead in the 4th as they had done all season through the SEC.

But Swinney and team were confident, especially the second half. A little shell-shocked the first half but they came into the 3rd with a confidence in their eyes and kept it (note Deshaun Watson's demeanor coming up to the line with 30 seconds left). They knew they were wearing Bama down and that they had Hurts and company figured out. Sark did a fine job calling plays but Clemson had done some serious late night studying, making the Bama offense too predictable (note the multiple times that Clemson's Ben Boulware was waving his teammates to where the play was going before the ball was snapped).

Allow me to opine about a few teams after seeing them in bowl games:
Georgia: Not a dominant or pretty win but they left us fans feeling good about next year.
BYU: Another nail biter, and also made fans feel good about next year.
Utah: Also a nail biter and fun game to watch, but worried about 2017.
Colorado: Whaaaaat?
Michigan: Whaaaaat?
Houston: The pre-season Cinderella team didn't make it home before midnight.
Idaho and CSU: A total of 111 points!
Boise State: Not the BSU we all expected.
Miami: Showed they have serious 2017 plans (if they can keep their QB).
LSU and USC: Leaving 2016 strong.
Penn State: Awww, darn. I like PSU.

And the playoff games:
Washington: We were all hoping, but no one really thought you were ready for Bama. Probably a year or two away from another shot like that.
Ohio State: Did. Not. Belong. Period.
Clemson (vs OSU): Absolutely un-believable, start to finish.

END-ZONE

A great article about the Joe Mixon fiasco by Lindsay Schnell (SI) written HERE.

Another Brent Musberger slip of the tongue resulted in this article HERE. And I must agree whole-heartedly with Christine Brennan on this. It's time for Musberger to hang it up and stop embarrassing himself and his boss.

Until next year! 

Week 13

The Playoff Selection Committee and the Big 10 quandary. Louisville drops one to Kentucky (Kentucky?). Boise State and Houston losing. With a Penn State win in the conference championship but an OSU placement in the top four, the PSC will have some explaining to do.

And coaches are already on the move: Strong is out :( , Herman is in, Oregeron is official, Kiffin might leave Bama. More to come...

The best game over the weekend was the UGA vs GaTech game. UGA lost 28-27 in a contest that they had in hand by the 4th quarter...until Georgia suffered three injuries to its secondary during one GaTech drive. That was the game changer. GaTech took advantage of inexperienced replacements, as any team would, and pulled out a close one.

The best part? A prime example of the "Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate". With about 9:49 left in the 3rd Quarter, Lance Austin from GaTech tackled Sony Michel. Sony is laying on his back and before he could get up Lance picked him up by the face mask and dropped him back down. (Note: Lance went on to intercept Georgia in the final minutes to secure the GaTech win).

Week 12

Week 12 was actually just left-overs from Week 11. Louisville, Utah and LSU all lost big games and knocking them all out of any contention for conference championships. All were expected to win. And the next two Saturday's are "YOOGE" (as Trump would say): Aub-Bama, OSU-Mich, UW-WashSt, UF-FSU, and then the conference title games. Anything could happen...and often does.

What's up with Western Michigan? Where will they end up when it's all said and done? I haven't watched them play yet but I'm excited to see how good they really are. And I really like it when teams honor one of their fallen, but this honoring went the extra mile. See article HERE.

Week 11

Un. Believe. Able.

The week started out unusual when everyone thought Hillary would beat Trump, but Trump prevailed in the end (heaven help us).

Then on Saturday, the rain started to fall. November rain. Only once before have #2, #3 and #4 fallen on the same week (1985). They may be back, or not. Overnight, we went from five unbeatens to now only two (Bama and Western Michigan).

• #4 Washington had no answer for #20 USC. They were simply outplay by a team that wanted it more.
• #3 Clemson has been on the ropes too many times and it finally caught up with them.
• #2 Michigan was simply beaten. Iowa looked well prepared and took advantage of the Wolverines likely over-confidence and expected blowout mentality. Or, maybe it was the pink locker room Iowa has for the visiting teams.

And...

• #9 Auburn was stuffed by a committed Georgia defense that held them to zero 2nd half first downs.
• #8 TA&M could not hold on and let Ole Miss back in the game. Did they forget about the many Land Shark's comeback runs?
• Also losing were #14 VaTech, #13 North Carolina, and #25 Baylor. The first two to un-ranked teams.
• And looking good down the stretch: Utah, Colorado, Penn State, Florida, Oklahoma and LSU.

Some may say the losses at the top muddied the playoff waters. Not me - it cleared things up. We were shown that maybe these three are not true contenders. We want the top four teams, teams that really want it, teams that don't overlook "lesser" opponents, and teams that are not one dimensional (rely on one or two star players).

All hail the underdog.

Week 10

What is going on with the SEC East? There is no beast of the east to match-up with the best of the west. Arkansas, maybe the 5th best team in the west, man-handled Florida. The SEC East needs to do get back to its heyday form. Bama met its match Saturday night but still did what we all expected - win. But LSU looks resurgent along with South Carolina and even a little resurgence from the Dawgs.

Louisville and Washington are doing what they are supposed to - win - but until they play someone with a bit more credentials they are going to be on the edge of the playoffs. Michigan is looking like a complete team ready to take on anyone, maybe even Bama.

More surprises: Miss State over TA&M? Navy over Notre Dame? Colorado ranked? Auburn almost letting it slip away to Vandy? And Vandy, giving it all to Auburn? TCU by 40 over Baylor? (No surprise since Baylor had not played anyone significant yet...like Washington and Louisville). Did anyone see this coming? Not me...